


Son of a Son of a Sailor

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Birthday, F/M, Fluff, Happy birthday Percy, Motherhood, Sally Jackson is a queen among mortals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2161788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is the son of the sea. And she is his mother, one eye on him and one eye on the coming danger as he grows and faces the challenges he sees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Son of a Son of a Sailor

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Percy Jackson!

She remembers the day she is told by the doctor she’s expecting. Expecting, what a strange word.

She tells the god, the baby’s father, the king of the sea, and his expression is less than what she’d hoped. It’s apprehension and concern and fear, nothing to fit the ruler of a domain like the ocean. She asks what’s wrong and gets the worst answer she could imagine:

“This child has earned a deadly fate.”

~~

She has a son, and he is beautiful and wonderful, and he has the eyes of his father and his own brand of brilliance. His day of birth, the eighteenth of August on a day of storms and lightning such that it shakes the foundation of the hospital, is nonetheless the best of her life.

She names him Perseus, after one of few Greek demigods who have happy endings. She introduces her little son as Percy, Percy Jackson, the child she comes to rely on when it feels too hard. Motherhood is hard. It’s harder when on your own. He cries one weekend for so long that she feels as if her mind will implode on itself.  

She is doing everything wrong. She cannot be a mother. It is his first birthday, and she cries in the bedroom as he sleeps, because her heart is breaking with her failure.

A single seashell with the words, “He will be as wonderful as his mother – I have you both in my heart,” change her mind. Change her strength. Empower her. She must resist these fears, if only for the gurgling baby who has stopped crying after a three hour long bath, and now smiles at her, covered in blue-icing cake frosting.

~~

Her child – Percy – is now walking and talking, but swimming more than either of those. Percy enjoys floating in the water, but even at three he is able to hold his breath in a way his peers cannot ever hope to compare to. She has to swim with him, because if she doesn’t, Percy’s likely to stay underwater for hours without realizing what’s wrong. He is the son of a sailor, of the sailor. Water is where he belongs.

However, the fear sets in. She catches the eye of monsters, glares them down with the glint of a weapon in her fist, and it’s this ability to watch her back and her son in places like the grocery store that give her the thought that, maybe, Percy will have a chance.

It’s not enough. She meets Gabe Ugliano. Marries him. But her son is safe, and she no longer carries weapons to daycare. She no longer fears taking Percy out, and for his fourth birthday, she convinces Gabe to let them go to Chuck E. Cheese’s.

~~

She discovers soon that his skills lie in the physical and the mental, but academics are a struggle from the start. It’s kindergarten where the concerns begin. It’s first grade where there’s a meeting called – she calls it, because she can’t stand the fights every night about whether or not Percy will do his half hour of reading anymore – to discuss what needs to be done to help this child succeed.

“His letter recognition is not on par with our school standards, and we were wondering if a consult with a testing facility might be in place. We want Percy to succeed. Do you have any ideas about what you might like to do?”

The diagnosis of ADHD is hard. The diagnosis of dyslexia is harder. The fact that they both come in his eighth birthday hurt more than she could have planned.

The first time her little boy comes home, downtrodden and broken, and tells her, “I think they kicked me out,” is like a knife in the heart.

The violence Gabe gives her is soothed by Percy’s smile and voice, and her tendency to “accidentally” swap the sugar with the salt. Gabe fails in most ways to harm her, and she rejoices the day he decides they get twin beds, because it means his hands no longer touch her.

Percy goes from school to school, then from boarding school to boarding school. She sees him less, but also sees Gabe less.

It’s a tradeoff she’d rather not have.

He comes home, and they go on the vacation she had promised him for ages.

Then comes the day she knows he will be taken from her.

And she lets him go.

~~

He saves the world once, twice, and then she loses count. He reaches sixteen, and it’s a miracle she secretly shares the credit for with Annabeth, something she could never have prayed for in the battle to keep her son alive.

The blonde brilliance is someone she could never have imagined for Percy, but they balance each other in ways unseen before. Annabeth finds her the day after Percy goes missing, tears and strife in her eyes as she stumbles to her doorstep. They cry in each other’s arms multiple times over the next few months, until Annabeth drops by her doorstep again, her eyes full of fire and surety this time, to tell her that they’ve found Percy, that they’re going to get him back.

~~

There’s a message on the answering machine. He is alive. He will be found.

She has faith in him, and faith in Annabeth.

~~

Percy’s the one to fall on her doorstep next time, with Annabeth right behind him, stumbling but the tears are not for pain.

They tell the stories, the tales, and she listens eagerly without being able to think much other than, “My children are alive, they are here with me again.” She throws a bash in Central Park for his 17th birthday, something great and celebratory, for they are all alive. They have won this time, and he lights up as he tells his mother he has lost no more friends.

Selfishly, she thinks of herself. Her son is back in her arms. Her child has lived.

He’s home this time, for good. And he’s free.

He turns 18, then 19, then 20. He turns 21.

~~

Percy’s 21st birthday is a disaster, but a disaster in a way that makes her so happy her son can have these disasters, it almost hurts. He’s living with Jason in a hole of an apartment in Brooklyn while he works his way through Police Academy, and she’s not surprised when he stumbles to her doorstep with a drunken smile on his face as Annabeth, Grover, and Reyna, the only others of his friends who could join him on a bar trip with legitimate IDs who were also in town, try to hide their intoxication behind him.

She pretends to lecture them, because it’s what a responsible mother should do, but she had never expected Percy to get his driver’s license. Now he can legally drink himself into a giggling mess on the ground. She lets it slip.

Somehow, the sight makes her smile, and she tells Annabeth she can sleep in Percy’s room that night.

Grover and Reyna, however, bunk on the couch.

She wakes up the next morning to see all four of them snuggled on the floor like puppies, curled around each other and Liam as they watch their favorite cartoons.

Grover and Reyna have fallen back asleep half on and half off the couch, but Annabeth and Percy each have bowl of some ridiculous colored cereal in their mouths and Percy has his brother Liam in his lap.

“Favorite superhero is Percy,” says Liam, snuggling into Percy’s lap. “But second favorite is Ann-bet.”

Annabeth leans over and kisses Liam on the forehead. “And what do you think of Captain America and all them?”

Liam smiles, toothy and honest like a two year old’s always is, and replies, “They don’t make snuggle forts with me, but they’re cool too.”

Something wells up in her heart as she realizes how lucky she’s been to get both Percy and Annabeth back, and to have Liam.

Paul slides up behind her, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Kind of a perfect picture, huh?”

She nods. “Yeah, but perhaps it would have been more perfect if Percy hadn’t knocked over an entire glass of water on the kitchen floor last night.”

~~

Sally nudges Annabeth with her hip. “Got anything in mind for Percy’s birthday?”

Annabeth laughs. “Please,” she replies, “I used some of my historical museum contacts to get an aquarium visit. Percy’s going to get to hang out with a bunch of penguins.” Her smile is so broad that Sally’s wondering if Annabeth is actually just as excited about the trip as Percy will be. “But that’s tomorrow. He wanted to do cake here, but it looks like somebody’s late again.”

“And I made a good one,” says Sally.

“I know,” says Annabeth, half pouting, “but it’s going to be strange without everybody else.”

Sally shrugs. “Percy’s always been a little weird about his birthday. Told me he wanted something a little bit smaller today.”

She shifts six year old Liam, who’s yanking hard on her shirt, to the front.

“Mommy,” he says to her in a bit of a stage whisper, “do I get to give it yet?”

Sally shushes him, and swings him up into Paul’s arms. “Stay with your dad, Liam, love,” she says. “Annabeth, can you help me with the cake in the kitchen?”

She shuffles Annabeth into the kitchen where she hopes Liam won’t spoil the secret loudly enough for Annabeth to hear.

Unfortunately, Percy is standing in the kitchen with Nico right next to him.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” says Sally, sighing.

Annabeth looks at Percy and Nico. “I thought you – why did you pop in - …?”

Nico sighs. “Sorry, Sally. I tried.”

Sally waves him off. “It’s Percy and Annabeth,” she says with a resigned huff, “it was going to be off kilter no matter what we did.”

Sally pulls Nico into a hug. “Nice to see you, dear.”

“What’s going on?” Annabeth asks, studying Percy’s face. Sally watches something dawn on her face. “Oh, god, Percy, did you plan a big romantic gesture?”

Sally has to keep herself from dropping her head in her hands when Percy replies, “No?”

Annabeth swallows. “Nah,” she says.

And drops to one knee, pulling something out of her back pocket.

“You see this coming?” Paul asks from behind Sally and Nico, his head between theirs.

Sally and Nico shake their heads simultaneously.

“I cannot believe we planned this at the same time,” says Annabeth, her voice light and laughing. “But I figured – I’m the first step one, Percy. And I wanted to do this, because it’s not what you would have expected. You’ve had my back since day one, and I’ve had yours since, well, I suppose after that night you were drooling.” She holds out a ring with a fake plastic cupcake charm on it. “So, I guess what I’m trying to say, is –”

Percy smiles and drops down next to her before she can finish, and Sally wraps her arm around Paul’s waist, pressing a kiss to Liam’s temple.

“No fair,” says Percy, “you beat me at everything.”

“You can be the one to say it,” says Annabeth with a shrug, “I mean, if you really want to.”

“Can I say it?” asks Liam.

Annabeth and Percy turn to Liam, who looks incredibly eager. He wiggles himself out of his father’s arms and stumbles over to them, trying to catch his balance as he plants himself next to them. “Annabeth Chase,” he says firmly, “will you married Percy Jackson?” He pats his pockets and, briefly, looks panicked. Sally’s about to tell him to check his back pocket when he reaches back and pulls out the ring. “I don’t know what to do with this so I’ll let him.” Liam shoves it into Percy’s hand. “There! So will you?” Liam leans over to Liam and, just loud enough that everyone in the room can hear, says, “If you don’t wanna marry him, I’m here.”

Annabeth laughs and nods. “Sorry, Liam, but I’m afraid I’m going to say yes to your big brother.”

Sally watches as Percy’s face lights up, the smile spreading across his face like a wave, and he pulls Annabeth close to kiss her hard.

She starts laughing when Liam goes, “Ew, save that for later!”

~~

Sally watches in awe as Annabeth, sitting up in the hospital bed, cradles the little baby in her arms. He’s got Annabeth’s curls but Percy’s black hair. His eyes are the blue of the newborn, and he’s them most beautiful thing Sally’s seen since Liam was born.

“Does he have a name yet?” she asks, quietly popping in. Liam’s desire to meet his nephew trumps his hatred of hospitals, so he peeks out from under Sally’s arm.

Annabeth shakes her head. “Honestly, we’ve been so concerned with the medical issues that the name seemed to take a back burner.” Her face falls a little as she looks down at the little boy in her arms, the new baby with the whole world ahead of him. “It’s silly but…We were scared giving him a name would jinx it.”

Sally walks over to Annabeth and kisses her forehead. “You have been the greatest mother, and you will continue to be,” she says quietly. “And you and he were strong enough to fight past that damage from your war wounds, right? So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Annabeth nods, letting out a shaky breath. “Nobody else understood it, Sally,” she says. “I mean, Percy did, as much as he could. But you…” Annabeth trails off, staring at the ceiling, and Sally’s heart breaks as she watches her own fears paint across Annabeth’s face. “I was so scared that all the trauma I’d sustained in battle would hurt him.”

“It could have,” says Sally honestly, “but it didn’t, and you did everything right. And now look at him.” They do just that. “And he’s a fighter already.”

Annabeth snorts. “Could have told you that from the way he kicked.”

Sally raises an eyebrow, a sort of I-told-you-so. “See? You knew he’d be fine.”

“We should name him after you,” laughs Percy.

“What?” says Annabeth. “Salmon? Salmonella? There’s no way Sally can be a boy’s name.”

“Sandy used to be a boy’s name,” says Liam, from where she’s peering at the baby.

They all turn to him. “How did you know that?”

Liam shrugs. “Last week I read a book from a long time ago, and there was a boy whose nickname was Sandy and his long name was Alexander.”

Sally can see the moment that Annabeth and Percy lock eyes and agree on it, and it’s strange that she’s learned to read Annabeth the same way she reads her sons.

“What do you think of Alexander for your nephew, Liam?” Annabeth asks.

Liam shrugs. “I like it. Just don’t call him Sandy.” His eyes light up. “Call him Xander! Like from that show Piper likes to watch!”

Sally stares at Percy. “You let him watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

Percy swallows. “Not…Not on purpose?”

Sally figures it’s a conversation for another time.

“Alexander,” says Annabeth, looking down. “The same name as the ruler of Macedonia.”

Sally decides, for the sake of Percy’s life, that she won’t point out his eye roll at her history reference.

Percy picks him up from Annabeth’s arms and cradles him close, the same careful way he did when Liam was tiny, and smile down. “Alexander Chase Jackson.”

And thus is Sally’s life, watching her son and his, the son of a son of a sailor, the beginning of a new chapter.


End file.
